19 August 2009

So much vexation on the web this week after Pear Analytics' assertion that 40% of tweets are 'Pointless Babble' (their caps). These are my favourite responses: dana Boyd's rant, Stephen Fry's rant (shorter than dana's but similar drift); and Devin Coldewey's post at Techcrunch 'Why I don't use Twitter', which introduces the lovely term 'Tweetotallers' for Twitter refuseniks. Suprisingly, I haven't yet seen anyone cite Robin Dunbar'sGrooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language which deals wonderfully with the grooming function of pointless babble, I mean phatic communication.

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I'm a psychologist and, having worked for many years in the design of user-centred products and services, am now Professor of User-Centred Design at University of Reading, UK.

Why Brain Attic?
In 'A Study in Scarlet' Arthur Conan Doyle wrote: "I believe that a man's brain is like a little empty attic, and you stock it with such furniture as you choose....the skillful workman will have...nothing but the tools which will help him doing his work..."
As we now know, Conan Doyle's analogy doesn't quite tell the full story of the brain but nevertheless this blog is a place for me to store notes that, if not logged here, might be forgotten.